Tom Clancy

One of the world's best-known authors, Tom Clancy penned a vast array of densely plotted, action-driven military and spy thrillers over the course of a two-decade career that included such titles as &...
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Hit author Tom Clancy has died at the age of 66. The writer, who penned classic thrillers including Patriot Games, Rainbow Six, and The Hunt for Red October, passed away on Tuesday (01Oct13) at a hospital in his native Baltimore, Maryland.
No further details were available as WENN went to press.
Born in Baltimore in 1947, Clancy worked as an insurance agent before launching his writing career, and he went on to become one of the U.S.' most respected novel writers, known for his military and spy thrillers, many of which became Hollywood blockbusters.
Many of his books featured the fictional character of Jack Ryan, a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative who was later brought to life on the big screen by actors including Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Alec Baldwin.
The plots of many Clancy novels were also used as the basis for hit computer games, and he also penned several non-fiction military books, including 1993's Submarine: A Guided Tour Inside a Nuclear Warship and Carrier: A Guided Tour of an Aircraft Carrier in 1999.

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All modern readers — ranging from those with a taste for the classics to the sort whose libraries are comprised entirely of the New York Times' latest recommendations — know the name Tom Clancy. The literary powerhouse behind so many titles that have taken form on the big screen, Clancy has contributed just as much to contemporary Hollywood as he has to contemporary literature. Tragically, Clancy died on Wednesday morning at age 66, with CNN reporting no known cause for the author's passing.
The Baltimore native's first work is perhaps his most famous as well: The Hunt for Red October, a 1984 novel that introduced his Jack Ryan hero and was brought to life in the form of an esteemed adventure movie six years later. But Clancy has a number of venerable pieces to his name that have also earned cinematic life: Clancy published Patriot Games in '87, Clear and Present Danger in '89, and The Sum of All Fears in '91. A fifth Jack Ryan film, Jack Ryan: Shadow One, is set to hit theaters in December.
In addition to movies, Clancy also inspired many a video game with his stories, the most famous of which being Rainbow Six, which Clancy wrote in 1998. The author showed no signs of slowing down his writing career. Since returning to the craft in 2010, Clancy penned five novels, and has another, Command Authority, due for publication in December 2013.
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Move over, Liam Neeson! We've got a new candidate for Daddy of the Decade and this one has an eery resemblance to Superman's papa.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kevin Costner is in talks to star in Midnight Delivery, a Taken-meets- Contraband thriller being produced by acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. The film, co-written by Pacific Rim director Guillermo del Toro and Luther co-creator Neil Cross, follows Costner's character as he trafficks cocaine on a midnight flight to London in order to save his estranged daughter from a Colombian gang. Del Toro, who is currently in pre-production to direct the haunted house horror film Crimson Peak in January 2014, will still oversee the expected fall shooting of Midnight Delivery.
Costner seems to be back in action these days, recently landing several starring big roles in Man of Steel, Jack Ryan, and Three Days to Kill. Regardless, I'm mostly looking forward to watch him revisit his love-driven protectiveness most recollected in The Bodyguard.
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The news that Star Wars: The Clone Wars had been cancelled came to me as a slowly-dawning shock. Almost like the Five Stages of Grief in reverse. I started with acceptance, the realization that this show couldn't last forever. After all, it had originally been planned for only 100 episodes at its outset, and we crossed that mark this January. Lucasfilm's announcement also promised that another animated series is in the works, one that would explore a wholly untouched part of the Star Wars timeline. That's exciting. But as much as it may be un-Jedi-like of me, as the day progressed and the news truly started to sink in, I found it harder and harder to let go.
The Clone Wars has been an amazingly accomplished series throughout its run. If its quality ever varied, it's because it realized it had to be all things to all Star Wars fans and deliver different kinds of episodes for different demographics: young kids encountering that Galaxy Far, Far Away for the first time, teenagers and young adults who first experienced Star Wars with the prequels, and middle-aged fans for whom the original trilogy is all the Star Wars they ever care to know. That's a tall order. And with an incredible batting average, it succeeded in pleasing each of those groups at one time or another.
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The lazy, kneejerk response to The Clone Wars is that it was what the prequels should have been: kinetic, action-driven, easy on the politics and heavy on the mythmaking. You will get no such prequel-bashing from this post. The funny thing is, The Clone Wars could be daringly political and devote whole episodes to moral quandaries and character's relationships as easily as it could space battles and lightsaber duels. It can be argued, very easily in fact, that The Clone Wars took the best of the prequels and the best of the original trilogy and made a series radically original and unlike any previous TV animation project. What emerged was a show as vast as the Star Wars galaxy itself. And lucky for us, there are still stories to tell, due to still unaired episodes that are due a DVD release or online streaming or who knows what. The final separation pains are still to be felt later on. But for now, let's take a deep breath and count the ways The Clone Wars was the very best that Star Wars had to offer.
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1. The Clone Wars Gave Us Vivid Characters With Bold Personalities and Complex Motivations
For the incredible roster of characters The Clone Wars gave us, you have to give a great tip of the hat to Lucasfilm Animation's talented stable of voice actors. (We'll get to them in a minute.) But, first and foremost, you've gotta acknowledge not only the depth but the economy of the writing. There were hundreds of characters with speaking parts throughout the 109 episodes of the show. And each episode ran for only 22 minutes. To convey a sense of any character's personality, the writers had to communicate something unique about each of them...and very quickly. Members of the Jedi Council, who served as freaky-looking window dressing in the movies, had to be fleshed out, and, in the case of Plo Koon or Even Piell or Adi Gallia, be capable of anchoring episodes themselves.
An even greater challenge lay in making each of the Republic's clone troopers distinct. I mean, they're clones. They all look the same. They all have the same voice (the incomparable Dee Bradley Baker). How do you set them apart? The writers made it seemed like they'd solved that problem effortlessly, building whole episodes, or even multi-episode story arcs around squads of clone troopers, like the Battle for Umbara Arc in Season 4. Take away the white armor, the blasters, the lightsabers, and any other funky tech, then splice those episodes together, and that arc could have served as a solid Vietnam War movie.
Then there's the way the show introduced new characters. Some of these developed whole cults of personality themselves, like Duros bounty hunter Cad Bane. Others would only appear in one episode, or even one scene, but were still capable of making an impression. Writer Brent Friedman especially proved himself a master at efficiently setting up new characters and delineating their personalities, as in the clip below, my favorite scene from my favorite episode of the series: Season 4's "The Box." Look at the way Friedman introduces 12 characters from the show in under 90 seconds. And once those 90 seconds are up, you know exactly what you need to know about each of those characters.
Even beyond the economy of that set-up, Friedman writes something A New Hope achieved brilliantly: a line of throwaway dialogue that suggests an epic history we're not entirely privy to. In this case, it's when Count Dooku says to the final bounty hunter, a Selkath of the aquatic race first scene in the videogame Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, that his people were once a peaceful race and "How far they have fallen." Whoa. So what happened to them, exactly? Why did they change? We don't know but our minds are racing with possibilities. This is writing that inspires the imagination, and it's in micro what Clone Warsdid all the time.
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2. The Clone Wars Went Further than the Expanded Universe
I love the Star Wars Expanded Universe. I've probably read a good 70+ Star Wars novels easy, not to mention countless comics and graphic novels. So I can understand why fans were upset when The Clone Wars rewrote previously established canon, like killing off Even Piell (who had previously been depicted as surviving Order 66), or, most notably, what the show did with bony Sith assassin, and all-around hottie, Asajj Ventress. In the Clone Wars comics released before Revenge of the Sith hit theaters, Ventress was portrayed as a repeat sufferer of abandonment, whose loneliness drove her toward the Dark Side -- and the manipulation of Count Dooku. On the show, some of that was left in place, but she was also revealed to be a Nightsister, and rather just exiting galactic history stage-right near the end of the war, as in the comics, on the show she became a bounty hunter and, eventually, a quasi-ally to both Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano. George Lucas, who had a hand in most, if not all, of the TV show's plot points, personally steered Ventress' arc in that direction. And you've got to admit it's more interesting than what had already been established in the EU. The same goes for Barriss Offee, who in the Season 5 (er, series) finale revealed herself to be a traitor to the Jedi Order and the person framing Ahsoka for murder and terrorism. In the comics, she was just another anonymous casualty of Order 66. On The Clone Wars, however, she was given a far more compelling exit.
3. The Clone Wars Featured Some of the Saga's Greatest Battles
And, yes, the show had plenty of action. In fact, it offered up space battles and lightsaber duels of true cinematic sweep, the equal of anything seen in the movies. And it set those battles in landscapes and environs unlike anything seen in the movies. Space battles? Try the Sky Battle of Quell on for size, instead.
The Clone Wars even cannibalized unused concept art for the original trilogy that legendary artist Ralph McQuarrie had painted. His original blue-white vision for Hoth became the moon Orto Plutonia in Season 1. And his exotic cityscapes were just as interesting, so his design for Coruscant's Monument Plaza made it onto the show, as well.
NEXT: The Clone Wars was brimming with talent, behind the scenes and in the recording booth.
4. The Clone Wars Was Really Smart
This show was capable of delivering a two-part episode about the passage of legislation that would enact banking reforms (in Season 3), as a kind of commentary on the Wall Street shenanigans that led to our financial collapse in this galaxy in 2008. I know, I know, you'll balk and say that sounds as dry as "the taxation of trade routes," but The Clone Wars made that incredibly interesting. It became a study of the political process, about how Palpatine coerced his minions to do what he needed to do, that was worthy of Lincoln or Advise and Consent. And it showed the intersection of economics and warfare. To ensure the passage of that legislation, General Grievous sends suicide-bomber droids to Coruscant to destroy the the government district's main power center and plunge the Republic Senate in darkness. His motivational speech to those droids as he sent them on their mission was almost Dickensian: "I won't lie to you...this is a dangerous mission. Some of you may not return....Actually, none of you will return." The resulting blackout was dripping with Langian paranoia and the kind of inky, palpable fear of a people ready to turn to fascism to solve their problems. Brilliant stuff.
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5. The Clone Wars Had an Incredible Roster of Voice Talent
The show's regular cast of Matt Lanter as Anakin, Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka, Tom Kane as the Narrator, Dee Bradley Baker as the clones, the late Ian Abercrombie as Palpatine, and James Arnold Taylor as an inspired (and inspiring) Obi-Wan, was peerless. But supervising director Dave Filoni also managed to score high-profile guest talent: actors like George Takei, Michael York, Tim Curry (as Abercrombie's replacement for Palpatine), Katee Sackhoff, Seth Green, Simon Pegg, and even, in one memorable cameo, Liam Neeson himself as Qui-Gon Jinn. As great as they were, it was the regulars, though, who really made the show shine week-in and week-out. Check out the final time we heard Abercrombie as Darth Sidious, at the end of this knock-out fight when the Sith Lord sneers at a supplicating Darth Maul and says, "I'm not going to kill you...I have other plans for you-u-u-u...(trails off into maniacal laugh). The best.
6. The Clone Wars Gave Us the Most Fully Realized Star Wars Underworld Yet
Sure, we got glimpses of scum and villainy in the Mos Eisley Cantina, Jabba's Palace, and that weird Coruscant nightclub Anakin and Obi-Wan visit in Attack of the Clones. But Clone Wars went deeper. In fact, it even devoted whole episodes to gangsters, pirates, and bounty hunters. For years, it's been rumored that a live-action TV series, tentatively titled Star Wars: Underworld, would explore the demimonde of that Galaxy Far, Far Away. But you don't need to wait for a show that may never happen. It already has happened. This interaction between Nika Futterman's Asajj Ventress and Simon Pegg's Dengar is perfectly indicative of the languid sleaze and scuzzy sexiness the show could trade in effortlessly.
7. The Clone Wars Had an Unbeatable Rogues Gallery
We've already talked about how great Ventress was on the show. But she's just the tip of the villainous iceberg. Jon Favreau, director of Iron Man and Elf, voiced the sinister, snarling Mandalorian Death Watch terrorist Pre Vizsla, a character who could have been a throwaway baddie but ended up having a kind of karmic--even tragic--story arc. Or the Nightsister coven leader, Mother Talzin. Or Revenge of the Sith's General Grievous, whose unique mix of malice and campiness was perfected by voice artist (and Oscar-nominated sound editor of There Will Be Blood) Matthew Wood. Or Savage Opress, who, forget Vizsla, really had a tragic arc, and was voiced by Highlander's Clancy Brown! Or Tarkin, the King's English-accented villain inhabited by Peter Cushing in A New Hope, who was the only man capable of holding Vader's leash, and was given a new, equally snide personality by Stephen Stanton. Or Cad Bane, who was the Star Wars Galaxy's answer to Lee Van Cleef's Angel Eyes in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: implacable, unstoppable, someone we'd call a force of nature if he weren't just so damn civilized. He was the kind of bounty hunter willing to kill someone if they had a wider-brimmed hat than him, who was never to be found without a toothpick in his mouth, who just seemed to conjure Morricone-esque music out of thin air. In this scene, the floor of his apartment was originally supposed to have the chalk outline of a Gungan. Even more reason to like him!
NEXT: The Clone Wars drew upon a diverse range of influences from Star Wars itself to Alfred Hitchcock to, I would argue, John Waters. (Yep, we're talking "Hunt for Ziro.")
8. The Clone Wars' Movie Inspirations Were Savvy
Though the call-outs were subtle, several episodes were designed as homages to movies cherished by Dave Filoni &amp; Co. A Season 2 episode recast Seven Samurai with Star Wars bounty hunters, in tribute to the centennial of Akira Kurosawa's birth. One of the characters, the broad-hatted Embo was part of a race named the Kyuzo, in honor of Seven Samurai's most taciturn badass. There were also episodes rendered in the style of Godzilla movies, zombie flicks, Spaghetti Westerns (note that sarape Boba Fett wears in Season 2!), even a blow-by-blow redo of the end of Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious with Anakin as Cary Grant, Padmé as Ingrid Bergman, and Senator Clovis as Claude Rains.
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9. The Clone Wars Gave Us Mini Movies.
Serialized storytelling is the holy grail of TV production today, but Clone Wars found a middle ground between a serialized rollout of its stories and an episodic approach. Though a character like Anakin's Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, obviously has an arc throughout the course of the whole series, the show mostly preferred three-to-four episode arcs. Splice those together, like Season 3's Nightsisters arc, or the Mortis trilogy, or Season 4's awesome Undercover Obi-Wan arc, and you'd have some pretty tasty cinematic experiences. Here's hoping that the final episodes that have yet to be released will be cut together to fully unleash their latent theatrical heft.
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10. The Clone Wars Explored the Niches of that Galaxy Far, Far Away
One thing you could do in a TV show that you couldn't do in a movie, not even in the spin-off Star Wars movies Disney has planned, is give really obscure supporting characters the spotlight. Take one of the oddest, but possibly most original, episodes of the series: "Hunt for Ziro." Ziro the Hutt, a tattooed, purple Hutt who escaped from prison with the assistance of Cad Bane, but forgot to pay Bane for his services, was modeled on Truman Capote, voice and all. Despite Ziro's previously ambiguous sexuality, he was revealed to have a girlfriend in "Hunt for Ziro," the glam lead singer of the Max Rebo Band, as seen in Jabba's Palace in Return of the Jedi, Sy Snootles. Sy put on a Vegas floor show in "Hunt for Ziro," then rushed to her beloved Ziro's side, after he was locked in prison again. They exchanged some self-consciously overheated Tennessee Williams dialogue like Ziro's "Unfortunately the cage that entraps me now also entraps my chance of loving you again." So Sy helped him escape...and then she gunned him down, proving herself to be the Star Wars saga's ultimate femme fatale. Who knew?
11. The Clone Wars Had a John Waters-esque Affinity for the Absurd
And the grotesque. When Obi-Wan and fellow Jedi Quinlan Vos are on the hunt for Ziro in "Hunt for Ziro," they enlist his mother for help. Wow. To think we thought Jabba was obese. And to think we thought Ziro was sexually ambiguous! Ziro's mom is indicative of The Clone Wars' sometimes surreal proclivity for comical exaggeration. If Ziro was based on Truman Capote, Ziro's mom must surely have been inspired by Divine. Brace yourself for this one. You could argue this is The Clone Wars' all-time worst moment. I'd argue it's one of the best.
NEXT: Just like Luke Skywalker's story ended (or so we thought) the moment he became a Jedi, The Clone Wars will go out on top.
12. The Clone Wars' Animation Kept Getting Better and Better
Every season saw a new visual advance. Mind you, Industrial Light &amp; Magic was already a pioneer in the rendering of CGI fire effects. But foliage, water, and hair had always been more of a challenge. And with each year it met those challenges one-by-one. The Season 3 finale's Most Dangerous Game setup of Trandoshan hunters tracking Ahsoka and fellow Padawans through a dense jungle showed how the Lucasarts Animation team had mastered creating a fully organic environment, where before they relied on arid landscapes of sand and rock. Season 4 tackled water with the season-opening arc's three episodes set entirely beneath the waves of ocean planet Mon Calamari. And by Season 5, the characters' hair, previously immobile, had started to move and sway with the wind and their own exertion. Not to mention that their choreography of elaborate fight scenes had never gotten more visceral than by the end of its run. Check out the incredible final showdown between Maul and Pre Vizsla from Season 5's "Shades of Reason."
13. The Clone Wars Could Be Edgy
Oh yeah, Vizsla suffered the fate of Ned Stark there. The Clone Wars could be violent and it more than once got in trouble with timid Cartoon Network censors. Other, more graphic beheadings were cut out of the show altogether. And this scene from the Season 3 premiere, of Asajj Ventress kissing a soldier she's impaled on her lightsaber, was also left on the cutting room floor.
14. The Clone Wars' Makers Knew It Served a Wide Audience
A glimpse at Season 5, alone, shows the narrative diversity of this show. It opened with a four-part arc focused squarely on the war, for an older, more action-oriented crowd. Then it followed that up with "The Young Jedi Knights," episodes that gave the spotlight to younglings first learning the Jedi ropes, showing how they would find their lightsaber crystals, then build their blades. Those eps were clearly for the under-10 crowd, and great for parents to watch with their kids. The same goes for the four-episode adventure about "D-Squad," plucky droids behind enemy lines. Then we got to a three-parter about Darth Maul, and those episodes featured a level of grit--not to mention multiple deaths--to satisfy a Game of Thrones fan. And finally the "Jedi On the Run" arc that saw Ahsoka leave the Jedi Order would appeal to, well, everybody. But especially older fans of the original trilogy searching for those movies' unique mythological resonance.
15. The Clone Wars Corrected the Mistakes of the Prequels
Mind you, I stand by my initial remarks that this is not a time to praise Clone Wars at the expense of the prequels. Actually, I consider myself an ardent prequel defender. Those movies are certainly different from the originals, but in some ways they go deeper, even deconstructing the very Manichaean, Dark Side/Light Side bipolar split of the originals, in showing that the very qualities that make a hero can also make a villain. That's pretty heady stuff. But I do think the Clone Wars series picked up a couple threads that maybe weren't explored as effectively as they could have been in Episodes I, II, and III. Namely, George Lucas himself realized the missed storytelling potential of killing off Darth Maul at the end of The Phantom Menace when he decided to resurrect him on the TV show. Or, rather, that we'd discover he'd never been killed but had survived being cut in half because of the power of the Dark Side...which, as we know, leads to abilities some consider to be unnatural. Suddenly, Darth Maul was back and his motivations were as prickly as his horns--did he want to return to Darth Sidious' side? Did he actually resent Sidious for abandoning him? Just what does he want? Like Hamlet, he may not even know. But that wasn't going to stop him from unleashing a bloodbath in the meantime.
The other area where I'd say The Clone Wars picked up a neglected strand from the prequels was in its development of the relationship between Obi-Wan and Satine. It was funny and fresh, bristling with a hormonal spark and repressed longing. At times, like in the scene below, when Obi-Wan subtly mocks Satine for being a pacifist, there was even a screwball wit to their dynamic. It's probably what we would have liked to have seen from Anakin and Padmé in the movies. But obviously, that could never have been, since Anakin and Padmé's relationship, though consummated, is marked by tragedy, betrayal, and abuse. Instead, Obi-Wan and Satine captured a will-they/won't-they free-spiritedness we hadn't seen in a Star Wars couple since Han and Leia.
There are probably a dozen more reasons I could list for why The Clone Wars was such a valuable part of Star Wars storytelling. Whatever animation projects Disney and Lucasfilm are planning for the future can learn a lot from this show. Hell, Episode VII could learn a lot from The Clone Wars. I've been writing about it in-depth for almost five years, and it still seems too soon to say goodbye.
This will be a show long remembered.
Follow Christian Blauvelt on Twitter @Ctblauvelt
[Photo Credit: Lucasfilm]
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I can still barely wrap my brain around “The Lawless.” Yes, there’s that amazing cliffhanger, which makes me more eager than ever to find out what’s going to happen to Clone Wars' unfortunately still-up-in-the-air Season 6. But this was an episode where the journey was as satisfying as the destination. You gotta give a massive amount of credit to storytellers who can evoke emotion out of the deaths of both a heroic character and a villainous character. How could we possibly feel any emotion for Darth Maul and Savage Opress after the former gutted Duchess Satine before Obi-Wan Kenobi’s eyes? And yet, when Darth Sidious sliced the life out of Savage, we couldn’t help but feel sorrow for the inevitable outcome of a monstrous life that never had to be monstrous. “I am an unworthy apprentice,” Savage rasped at the end as Mother Talzin’s Nightsister magic drained out of him, Clancy Brown finding a pitch perfect mix of tough-guy cool, anguished regret, disappointment, and self-loathing. “I’m not like you. I never was.” To actually make us sorry for him, after what he and Maul did to Satine? That’s an incredible achievement.
Due to the heightened emotions, mythic gravitas, and cinematic sweep of “The Lawless,” it’s no surprise that there were a number of references to the Star Wars movies themselves, right down to the way the episode started: in medias res. Maul had taken over Death Watch, killed Vizsla, and installed himself as the unseen ruler of Mandalore. But Tom Kane’s narration breezed through that to get us smack into the middle of a jailbreak, and I loved the get-to-the-good-stuff urgency with which he said, “We now find Duchess Satine in prison!” That leads us to Star Wars Movie Callback #1: Corky’s “I’m here to rescue you!” Yes, Satine’s nephew with the chiseled Nordic features had stolen a suit of Death Watch armor and had arrived to rescue his aunt. His accomplice? Bo-Katan! But wait, she’s helping Satine, who she just tried to unseat but one episode ago? I guess her anti-Zabrak sentiment is greater than her anti-pacifist sentiment?
Dave Filoni said in our inaugural Clone Wars Google Hangout yesterday that he’s worked out a full geneaology for House Kreyze. But one question still left unanswered now that we know Bo-Katan is Satine’s sister is the following: since Corky is Satine’s nephew, is he Bo-Katan’s son? Did she just abandon him to pursue the life of a warrior? If so, he doesn’t seem to bear much of a grudge. Well, I’m getting ahead of myself, but it’s an interesting question to ask. Bo-Katan said she was helping her sister, because “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” But what a fascinating bit of backstory remains to be told about how Satine and Bo were torn apart in the first place.
They boarded a Gian Speeder that reminded me of my first-ever Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace toy, a Gian Speeder flanked by plastic battle droids set inside a faux-Renaissance-style Naboo archway, that I got for Christmas 1998 as a 12-year-old. Of course, they had barely pulled out into a hoverlane when Maul’s forces attacked. By the Force, the choreography of this airborne, 3-D fight was incredible, with each balletic pivot and armored roundhouse kick having the feeling of weight behind it, like these combatants are truly subject to the physics of the world around them. Case in point: when Bo-katan fires her grappling hook onto a pursuing warrior, then dangles off him, suspended in midair because of his jetpack. Beautiful stuff. A depiction of a warrior people who’ve mastered their environment as best they can while still adhering to the physical laws of their environment, unlike the Sith who we’ll later see impose their will upon physics and bend it to suit their needs.
NEXT: Maul uses Satine to set the perfect Jedi trap.
It began to look bleak. Satine wasn’t going to get away. But she could at least get a message out to Obi-Wan about what had happened to her. Star Wars Movie Callback #2: Satine’s “Obi-Wan, I Need Your Help!” No, it wasn’t quite “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope,” but it got the job done.” It didn’t hurt that she looked her very best ever, in this slinky, form-fitting, high-collared outfit. Mandarin collars make the hearts of Jedi—and me—grow fonder.
Unfortunately for Satine, she had walked right into a trap that was, in turn, also a trap for Obi-Wan. Like the master strategist that we never knew he always was, Maul anticipated Satine’s jailbreak and planned to use it to his advantage. He’d give her some slack, make it look like she was escaping, get far enough to put in a distress call to Obi-Wan, then reel her back in. That way she wouldn’t know that she was really forcing her old boyfriend into a confrontation with the Sith Lord. And, since Mandalore had remained neutral throughout the war, and the Death Watch were no longer aligned to the Separatists, he’d have to come alone—the Jedi Council would not meddle in a neutral planet’s internal affairs when they’ve got a galaxy-spanning war to fight. Like the one Darth Sidious himself would later set for Obi-Wan on Utapau, it was the perfect Jedi trap. Star Wars Movie Callback #3: Maul’s Sidious-like “Good, you have done well” to Almec when the Prime Minister notified him that Satine had sent a distress message to Kenobi.
Going this one alone, Obi-Wan flew the Twilight, now barely held together at all after some of Anakin’s tinkering, to be at Satine's side. Filoni said during our chat yesterday that he was never a big fan of the Twilight’s design and was more than okay with its ultimate fate in this episode. Obi-Wan was dressed in his Rako Hardeen disguise from Brent Friedman’s incredible Undercover Kenobi arc from Season 4. He told the (space)port authority guard that he had a landing permit, but left it on the ship. They went aboard together to find it. Star Wars Movie Callback #4: An offscreen Obi-Wan dispatching the Mandalorian guard and stealing his armor, just like Luke and Han aboard the Falcon in A New Hope.
Next thing you know, Satine was being rescued...again! At hearing the voice of Obi-Wan, she turned and threw herself into his arms. But, ever the proper, attachment-free Jedi, he pushed her away. Seriously, Obi-Wan, is your heart made of ice? Are you that devoted to the Jedi Code? Or are you really using it as a kind of beard…Hmm. They made their way out of the detention block—Star Wars Movie Callback #5: Wookiee Prisoner Trick! With Satine as the Wookiee in this scenario—but encountered another Death Watch soldier in a turbolift. “What’s the authorization code?” the soldier asked Obi-Wan, regarding the transfer. Obi-Wan’s fist! Indiana Jones Movie Callback #1: Obi-Wan dispatching a guard offscreen to make a quick exit and rescue his girlfriend. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t be getting off Mandalore anytime soon without some outside help. Satine suggested they contact her sister. Guess who!
NEXT: “Who Will Fall?” was the tagline for Season 5. Last week it was Vizsla. But now, there is another.
If only they had contacted Bo-Katan sooner, because the Twilight, it seems, couldn’t even handle small-arms blaster fire, let alone when one of Maul’s henchmen fired a rocket into it. Obi-Wan and Satine came crashing back to Terra Mandalore, and who should be waiting for them? Star Wars Movie Callback #6: “We meet again, Kenobi!” No, he didn’t add “When we last met I was but the learner, now I am the master,” though he probably could have. Unlike Obi-Wan’s later experience with another Darth, Maul didn’t want to kill him. He wanted to make him suffer. And for that, he needed him alive. In his throne room, Maul Force-choked Satine before the helpless Jedi Master. Satine’s hair flowed exquisitely in the wind—another area of startling improvement in the animation—and she looked lovely despite her distress. Then Maul impaled her on Vizsla’s darksaber. Obi-Wan cradled her in his arms as life began to ebb out of her sundered body. “Remember, my dear Obi-Wan,” Satine said. “I loved you always. I always will.” For a minute, I was worried Obi-Wan would say, “I know.” But actually, he ended up saying nothing. I suppose he showed his affection for her rather than verbalizing it, but I would have loved it if he could have reciprocated her sentiment in some way. It’s at a moment like this when I’m not entirely certain it is a strength to not have any attachments. Isn’t it, on some level, a fear of loss that motivates a Jedi’s disavowal of all attachment? And isn’t fear ultimately a path to the Dark Side? Maybe that’s why this Jedi Order is doomed, and why Luke Skywalker’s New Jedi Order will be even that much stronger. Luke’s Jedi tolerate attachment, even romance and marriage, because they realize that emotional connection can fuel compassion, a Jedi’s highest calling. Without any attachment how could you have compassion?
Still, I suppose Obi-Wan’s form of grief is preferable to its polar opposite: Anakin’s, when he thinks Padmé is going to die. Anakin can never let go, and is so determined to remain attached to his wife that he destroys all around him including much of himself. Obviously, compared to that, Obi-Wan’s approach is better, but I do think there’s a middle ground between these two poles, and that Luke is the one to discover it.
Anyway, with Satine’s death, half a galaxy away, it’s as if Palpatine sensed a swelling in the Dark Side. He told Mas Amedda—Star Wars Movie Callback #7—“Prepare my ship.” Does this mean Amedda is in on the fact that his Supreme Chancellor is a Sith Lord? Off to Mandalore he went.
NEXT: Maul senses a presence…a presence he hasn’t felt since…
The third time is always the charm, and so it was during our third attempted jailbreak, when Bo-Katan rescued Obi-Wan from his captors during a transfer. She outfitted him with a jetpack and he was ready to go. He would need to get back to the Republic to tell them of what's happened on Mandalore, because, really, a full Republic invasion would be preferable to the chaos that had already engulfed the planet. We finally got that great shot from the Season 5 trailer I debuted on EW.com last August: of Obi-Wan, lightsaber lit and unfurled, standing in the doorway of a hangar, a calm hurricane’s eye looking at all the chaos around him as Maul and Bo-Katan’s forces battle to the death. He got ready to board his ship, but Bo wouldn’t leave with him. It was then that Obi-Wan realized she must be Satine’s sister. I mean, the refined, patrician bone structure they both share should have been a dead giveaway. Oh, Obi-Wan. Here’s another woman you will inevitably disappoint.
One thing that’s quite different about the Clone Wars TV series as opposed to the Clone Wars comics and novels that fleshed out the time period before the release of Revenge of the Sith in 2005 is that so far this show hasn’t concerned itself at all with the search for Darth Sidious. Remember, Count Dooku even told Obi-Wan about Sidious in the events leading up to the Battle of Geonosis in Attack of the Clones. So shouldn’t they maybe be looking for that guy? Well, on the TV series, the Jedi don’t seem to give a damn. I mean, you’d think maybe Obi-Wan would sense the erupting Dark Side energy that surely must have come from Darth Sidious’ Sith Lord Smackdown not far away.
Star Wars Movie Callback #8: “I sense a presence,” said Maul. “A presence I haven’t felt since…Master!” Sidious strode into Maul’s throne room like a shadow given flesh, a singularity in the Dark Side that consumes everything and contributes nothing. Maul, obsequious, said he had built the largest criminal network in the galaxy all in a bid to return to his old Master’ side. Sidious knew better. His apprentice had become a rival. He shoved Maul and Savage through the Force and withdrew twin crimson blades. (He must always have two at all times, because he still was one to fight Yoda in Revenge of the Sith after one flies out the window during his battle with Mace Windu.) It was on. The best lightsaber duel The Clone Wars has ever given us had begun.
NEXT: Sidious proves why he, and he alone, is the Master.
It worked so well, because it was a clash of two different aspects of the Dark Side. There’s the Dark Side that burns hot—that of Maul and Savage—that’s fueled by anger and a lust for blood and revenge, and the Dark Side that runs cold, that isn’t fueled by any emotion whatsoever, that’s detached, analytical: Palpatine’s Dark Side. That kind of Dark Side energy feeds only off the emotions of others, not the Force user himself. That means Palpatine does whatever he can to instill fear, anger, and hatred in his opponents, and takes pleasure in their emotional distress, emotions that he himself can no longer experience. It’s why his fight with Maul and Savage—and later with Yoda—isn’t much of a fight at all, but a great tease, in which he toys with his enemies and deploys their own weaknesses against them. Which is why the one emotion he may experience during his fight with Maul, Savage, and later Yoda, is…joy. He seems to take such a thrill in toying with these opponents. I guess to be really good at your job, you have to love it. Sidious loves it. His mastery is so great, he probably doesn’t even need to do all the flips and twirls and balletic maneuvering we see in this fight. He just does all that acrobatic stuff for the pure theatricality of it. What’s life and death for Maul and Savage is just exercise to him. If the goal of the Dark Side is for an individual to impose their will upon the Force, then Sidious has not only done that, but gone further and imposed his will on physics itself. When Maul and Savage throw him over a ledge, he levitates and instead uses the Force to hurl them off the cliff.
In short, the resolution to Maul and Savage’s reign of terror was Deus Ex Sidious. He impaled Savage on his twin blades. Maul rushed to his side, but it was too late. Sidious cackled that Maul was no longer his apprentice and had been replaced. They locked blades again, until finally Sidious unleashed the ace that’s always up his sleeve: his Force lightning. His former apprentice cried for mercy. “There is no mercy,” Sidious said. “Do not worry. I’m not going to kill you. I have other uses for youuuu….” The way that final “you” became a sadistic laugh may be the greatest thing Ian Abercrombie ever did this with character—and he did a lot of great things with this character. An incredible send-off for him. A terrifying cliffhanger for us.
Just what do you think Sidious has in mind for Maul? And how long do you think it’s going to be, before we find out? Also, are you going to need therapy after all this?
Follow Christian Blauvelt on Twitter @Ctblauvelt
[Photo Credit: Lucasfilm]
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Pokemon fans who've waited 15 years for a chance to see Pikachu standing behind 3D blades of grass are about to get their wish. Or part of it, at least.
Nintendo has announced that they'll be releasing Pokémon X and Pokémon Y this October for the Nintendo 3DS handheld device. This is the first time that fans worldwide will be able to play Pokémon all at once, as the company will be releasing the games simultaneously in North America, Europe, and Japan to avoid the long lag times between incremental regional releases that have marked previous entries. More importantly, though, this is the first time since Pokémon's launch in 1996 that its characters will appear in 3D environments for fully immersive gameplay. To put it in perspective, Nintendo icon Mario, a staple of side-scrolling console and arcade games throughout the '80s and early '90s got his 3D makeover in 1996 with the release of the Citizen Kane of videogames, Super Mario 64. The new camera in X and Y — not to mention the built-in communication features for multiplayer interaction — will be catnip to fans. As will the three new starting characters that players will be able to inhabit: grass monster Chespin, watery toad Froakie, and some kind of weirdly flammable deer/fox hybrid named Finnekin.
Still, it's hard not to think that Nintendo is missing out on an opportunity here to transform a venerable brand into something new. Pokémon X and Y will only be available on the 3DS, meaning that like all its previous incarnations it will be a handheld game. Even with the 3D upgrade, relegating Pokémon to a handheld experience shows that Nintendo continues to emphasize portability over immersion. On the other hand, bringing the franchise to the Wii U console? That could have meant expanding the very parameters of what players think of as a Pokémon game. It certainly has enough characters to facilitate console-enabled worldbuilding. Done well, it could have been a transformation on par with the Nintendo 64 revolution for Mario and Link.
Nintendo intends, though, for Pokémon to remain a small-scale subway-and-schoolyard gaming experience, where players engage with the characters and scenarios in intermittent bursts only. That's quite a bit different from the cinematic sweep and storytelling ambitions of today's biggest game franchises. But pastel cuteness has always been more important to Pokémon's sugar-shock aesthetic than narrative heft. It just seems likely that by repeating the formula for the franchise's earlier success, Nintendo is assuring that its target audience now will be aging nostalgia fetishists rather than what could have been a next generation of Pokémon fanatics.
Will you pick up Pokémon X and Y this October?
Follow Christian Blauvelt on Twitter @Ctblauvelt
[Photo Credit: Nintendo]
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After Disney and Marvel's The Avengers crossed the billion dollar mark in worldwide grosses, thanks to years of multi-picture world building, everyone in Hollywood is scrambling to put together their own interwoven franchises. From Paramount's Tom Clancy adaptations to WB's Justice League, the name of the game is expanded mythology, and now it appears Disney wants its next gargantuan undertaking to follow the same path.
Insiders have revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that Disney has hired a team to write spin-off entries set in the Star Wars universe. Whereas Marvel shot solo films for their many heroes and collided them for the epic Avengers, the plan will be to take advantage of the sprawling universe far, far, away with new adventures not disconnected from the Skywalker saga of the previous trilogies.
Earlier this month, writers Lawrence Kasdan (Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark) and Simon Kinberg (Sherlock Holmes, upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past) were hired to pen screenplays for two upcoming Star Wars films. Disney, who absorbed George Lucas' LucasFilm and the legendary sci-fi property in October, currently plan to continue the franchise with Episode VII, VIII, and IX beginning in 2015. The unnamed eighth entry is set to be written by Toy Story 3 screenwriter Michael Ardnt, and the logical conclusion upon the news was that Kasdan and Kinberg would script the later two entries. Not so, says the new report.
"Expanded Universe" is a familiar term for Star Wars enthusiasts, with many minor characters and corners of the ever-growing world explored in books, comics, video games, and even toys. But for the first time, the expansion will now occur on the big screen, all part of Disney's ambitious plan to release two or three Lucasfilm-produced movies a year (a roundabout way of saying "A whole lot of Star Wars!"). No details have been revealed on where Kasdan and Kinberg may take their scripts — we're still wondering who or what Episode VII is about — but with an endless ensemble to pick from, the sky is the limit.
Which character do you want to see get his or her own movie? Don't forget: Captain America director Joe Johnson really wants to make a Boba Fett movie. Now that dream is a real possibility.
Follow Matt Patches on Twitter @misterpatches
[Photo Credit: Lucasfilm]
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Through rousing superhero adventures and well-placed sneak peeks of their universe's future, comic giant Marvel has proven that nothing stands alone when it comes to a blockbuster brand. The Avengers set the pace for any future contenders, including Fox's own Marvel heroes (mainly, the X-Men), Paramount's Jack Ryan/Tom Clancy ensemble, and more obviously, the DC Comics slate of heroes.
So if the pressure wasn't built high enough for director Zack Snyder's upcoming reinvention of the Superman character, Man of Steel, imagine the prospects of knowing the movie would pave the way for Warner Bros. upcoming Justice League movie. Snyder's film flies into theaters June 14, 2013. WB's hope is to have Justice League in theaters by Summer 2015. A connection between the two isn't only inevitable, it's demanded by the timetable.
While Snyder is focused intently on his first entry in the cinematic Superman pantheon, a recent interview reveals that planning may already have been in the works for his vision to fuel the future of DC comic book hero movies. Speaking to the New York Post, Snyder addresses the continuation of Man of Steel by pulling out the "no spoilers" card, but teases that Warner Bros. has put their faith in him. "I will say, yeah, they trust me to keep them on course," Snyder says.
Snyder admits that the proximity of the two films could cause an issue if WB decides not to work the film's established setup into Justice League, telling the Post, "‘The Man of Steel’ exists, and Superman is in it. I don’t know how you’d move forward without acknowledging that.”
Henry Cavill is signed for three Superman films, and like his thespian counterparts over at Marvel, who were recruited for both stand alone movies and The Avengers, the actor could have both Man of Steel sequels and Justice League is in his future. The big question mark remains Man of Steel's success — 2006's Superman Returns, WB's last attempt to relaunch the character, flew under budget at the box office with a gross of only $200 million, while Green Lantern, their attempt to expand out with lesser known DC heroes, only took in $116 million. WB has found major success with Batman, The Dark Knight Rises having now grossed more than $447 million domestically. Not difficult to see why TDKR director Christopher Nolan was asked to supervise Man of Steel as a producer.
It may be too early for Snyder to reveal how influential Man of Steel will be for the future of DC movies, but his points focus fan speculation. There's only so much rebooting one franchise can take — for the foreseeable future, everything's riding on Man of Steel, even if we won't be told that in an after-credits scene.
Follow Matt Patches on Twitter @misterpatches
[Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures]
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Generally speaking, when a man dresses up like a woman for a movie role, it's usually either a screwball comedy, or a gritty, introspective, occasionally hard-to-watch drama.
In the first category, we have the works of Monty Python and Martin Lawrence, and movies like Some Like It Hot and Mrs. Doubtfire. In the second, the likes of The Crying Game, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and the developing new feature The Dallas Buyers Club.
Here, we see a new image of (before we reveal, can you guess?) Jared Leto in costume as his character, a drag queen named Rayon who assists star Matthew McConaughey in a drug trafficking endeavor. We've already seen McConaughey transform impressively for Dallas Buyers Club, promising optimism for Jean-Marc Vallée's forthcoming drama.
Leto has a slew of interesting, artful roles to his name: Requiem for a Dream, Prefontaine, American Psycho, and Fight Club, among others. His new gig, a story that involves struggles with drug addiction, sexual pervasiveness, and AIDS, looks to be right in keeping with the actor/musician's consistent tone of downtrodden, authentic human drama.
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The Dark Knight Rises star will portray top black ops special agent Sam Fisher in the film adaptation, which will be penned by screenwriter Eric Warren Singer, reports trade paper Variety.
Jean-Julien Baronnet, CEO of Ubisoft Motion Pictures, says, "Tom Hardy is currently one of the biggest talents in the film industry, and he has a phenomenal ability to take on complex and varied roles with his broad range of acting skills.
"His involvement in the Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell movie is exciting news for movie and video game fans alike. Meanwhile, Eric Singer is one of the most talented writers of the moment, and we're confident he'll bring a fresh approach and create a thrilling story while still respecting all the codes and traditions of the franchise that are so important to fans."
It's not the only Ubisoft game-turned-film in production - Michael Fassbender has landed the title character in an upcoming movie version of Assassin's Creed.

French video game manufacturer Ubisoft purchased the rights to Clancy's name for games and related media

Ended bid to purchase the Minnesota Vikings

First novel published, The Hunt for Red October

Penned last novel released during his lifetime, Threat Vector, with Mark Greaney

Summary

One of the world's best-known authors, Tom Clancy penned a vast array of densely plotted, action-driven military and spy thrillers over the course of a two-decade career that included such titles as <i>The Hunt for Red October</i> (1984), <i>Patriot Games</i> (1987) and <i>The Sum of All Fears</i> (1991). Clancy's novels, which frequently followed the adventures of CIA analyst - and future President - Jack Ryan, were praised by readers and military personnel alike for their extensive understanding of covert technology and affairs, which led to 10 of his books reaching the top of the <i>New York Times</i> best seller list and Clancy becoming a cottage industry unto himself, with video games like the popular <i>Rainbow Six</i> series and countless tie-in novels to his name. Clancy's work was also frequently adapted into feature films, including 1990's "The Hunt for Red October" and "The Sum of All Fears" (2002). At the time of his unexpected death in 2013, Clancy remained at the top of the publishing industry, with a net worth of some $300 million, and a dedicated readership.<p>Born Thomas Leo Clancy, Jr. on April 12, 1947 in Baltimore, Maryland, Tom Clancy developed an interest in military history at an early age, poring over journals and engineering texts intended for adult naval officers and personnel. This naturally evolved into a desire to serve in the armed forces, but after joining the R.O.T.C. while attending Loyola University, he was declared unfit due to his nearsightedness. Clancy graduated in 1969 with a degree in English and worked for a time at an insurance agency founded by his grandfather. In 1984, he sold his first novel, <i>The Hunt for Red October</i>, to the Naval Institute Press for $5,000. At the time, the publisher had never released a fictional work, but was intrigued by Clancy's level of technical knowledge. <i>October</i> soon attracted a national audience thanks in part to praise by military officials - some of whom expressed concern over the author's understanding of clandestine matters - and then-President Ronald Reagan, who declared it "(his) kind of yarn." The Commander in Chief's laurel helped to boost the novel to the top of the <i>New York Times</i>' best seller list, a feat he would repeat 10 additional times during his lifetime. </p><p><i>The Hunt for Red October</i>, about a Soviet naval captain's defection, introduced readers to Clancy's most enduring hero, CIA analyst Jack Ryan, who would serve as the protagonist for most of his subsequent thrillers. After writing 1986's <i>Red Storm Rising</i> with Larry Bond, he would publish the second Ryan novel, a prequel to <i>October</i> called <i>Patriot Games</i> (1987) which found the heroic agent in the crosshairs of an Irish terrorist after saving the Prince and Princess of Wales from an assassination attempt. Ryan would then return in <i>The Cardinal of the Kremlin</i> (1988), <i>Clear and Present Danger</i> (1989) and the doomsday scenario thriller <i>The Sum of All Fears</i> (1991). He would then revisit Ryan's past in <i>Without Remorse</i> (1993), which pitted Clancy's other recurring hero, ex-SEAL John Clark, against Baltimore drug dealers and the North Vietnamese. The following year brought readers back to Ryan's present with <i>Debt of Honor</i> (1994), which found the agent, who had been promoted to National Security Advisor, assume the Presidency after a deranged airline pilot crashed a jetliner into the U.S. Capitol, wiping out most of the Cabinet. The novel would be revisited under grim circumstances less than a decade later due to the similarities between the events of September 11, 2001 and its plotline. </p><p>Each of these novels reached the No. 1 spot on the <i>New York Times</i> best seller list, which helped to make Clancy one of the most popular authors of the late 20th century. A series of savvy publishing deals, including a 1997 agreement with Penguin Putnam that paid over $50 million for his next six books, also made him one of the wealthiest writers in the world, and allowed him to join a group of investors which purchased the Baltimore Orioles baseball team in 1993. His books had also enjoyed successful adaptations to feature films, beginning in 1990 with "The Hunt for Red October," with Alec Baldwin as Jack Ryan. Harrison Ford would assume the role for "Clear and Present Danger" in 1994 before Ben Affleck took over as Ryan for 2002's "The Sum of All Fears." Clancy soon took advantage of his position within the publishing and entertainment industry by establishing himself as a brand name that could be applied to a variety of media. In 1997, he launched Red Storm Entertainment, a video game manufacturer that scored a massive hit among gamers with the tactical first-person-shooter series "Rainbow Six" in 1998. He also created two popular series of paperback espionage thrillers: <i>Op-Center</i>, written by Jeff Rovin, which launched in 1995, and <i>Net Force</i>, which began in 1999 and was written by Steve Perry. In 1998, Clancy would release <i>Rainbow Six</i>, an action novel featuring John Clark and Ryan and designed to tie in with the video game of the same name. </p><p>Clancy's fortunes took a downward turn in 1999 when he was required to pay a large undisclosed sum to his first wife, Wanda, whom he married while a student at Loyola in 1969. The settlement forced him to abandon his 1998 plan to purchase the Minnesota Vikings football team, but Clancy soon rebounded, returning to the best seller list with a new Jack Ryan novel, <i>The Bear and the Dragon</i>, in 2000. Seven more novels would follow between 2002 and 2013, during which Ryan's son, Jack Ryan, Jr., would assume the role of protagonist. Clancy's fortunes also resumed their previous high levels, with the author reaching No. 10 on <i> Forbes</i> magazine's list of top earning celebrities in that year. In 2010, he began working with co-authors on his novels, beginning with <i>Dead or Alive</i> that same year. In 2013, Clancy was hospitalized at the Johns Hopkins Hospital following a brief illness. His health worsened, resulting in Clancy's death on October 1, 2013. At the time of his passing, he was working on a new novel, <i>Command Authority</i>, which was slated for release in December of that year. </p>

Name

Role

Comments

Michelle Bandy

Daughter

Christine Blocksidge

Daughter

Alexis Clancy

Daughter

Thomas Clancy

Son

Kathleen Clancy

Daughter

Wanda King

Ex-Wife

Alexandra Llewellyn

Wife

Education

Name

Loyola College

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Notes

Worked at his grandfather's insurance company prior to selling his first novel.

A staunch conservative throughout his life, Clancy blamed the September 11, 2001 attacks on liberal politicians who had weakened the Central Intelligence Agency.

In later years, he allied with General Anthony Zinni, an acknowledged critic of President George W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

One of only three authors to sell two million copies of a book in its first printing, the others being John Grisham and J.K. Rowling.

Receieved the Alfred Thayer Mahan Award for Literary Achievement from the Navy League of the United States.